APRN seeking employment after being reported to NPDB for substance use disorder

TIMFY · Jun 24

Was the opiate use while you were practicing as a CRNA or an RN? One of the CRNAs that works where I get my infusions is in monitoring and I believe he got that job after he started monitoring (ie it wasnt the job he was diverting from). He still gives prop/versed etc but way more lowkey than a surgery center or hospital so maybe check out offices and infusion centers? I don't believe they take Medicare so I think it would be OK with you being in the NPDB?

Steven Thompson · Jun 24

Apply for GI centers, eye centers, large metropolitan area hospitals that need help and you will be surprised at how many CRNAs and RNs and Physicians are in recovery at large hospitals. Getting your first job is tough, but it will happen. I am a recovery instructor, RN, and Psych NP and lead recovery online groups for nurses, physicians, and CRNAs, pharmacists, etc. I've worked with, know or have known approximately 100 plus CRNAs over the years who have diverted and come back into practice. For the ones that completed rehab and were in active 5 year monitoring programs and compliant, I NEVER met one who did not eventually find a job and return to practice as a CRNA. The overwhelming majority of them had a tough time getting that first job back and many of them...it took one year from the time they started applying to their first day on the job in the OR, but every one of them found one.

Do NOT waste your time applying with CRNA staffing groups/locums. A hospital will not credential you as a locum CRNA even though the locum group/CRNA staffers tell you you can work for them. The resistance comes as the hospitals they are trying to staff you/credential you at.

Apply for every GI Center in your state. Apply for hospitals in your state in which you directly work for the hospital. Be very open, up front and honest, and sooner or later someone doing the hiring and on the credentials committee will either be someone in recovery or have had a family member in recovery, etc. For all of those CRNAs who returned to practice and found that first job back/re entry....90 plus percent of them told me they didn't think they would find a job only for......them to find a job. Be prepared to be told No and be turned down. That's par for the course. Be prepared to move within your state. Think GI centers where you work directly for the GI Center, Surgical Centers where you are directly hired by the surgical center (no groups or anesthesia staffing agency) eye centers (direct hires) and hospitals that are very rural (in great need) or very large metro based hospitals (in need because it's considered an undesirable CRNA job)

Be prepared for it to take yp to 1 year from the time you put your first application in until the time you begin work. Think VOLUME of applications, not onesies or twosies, flood the market with a high volume of applications. You will find a job sooner or later and that's all it takes. One you have your foot in the door and are credentialed, you are set when your monitoring agreement ends. You will find that only a small handful of places will not hire you after your monitoring agreement is over and license is clear bases on your background that they will always know about. If only 1 in 8 hospitals will hire you now, after you have practiced somewhere eith that first job back and completed yourb5 year contract, 7 in 8 will hire you.

Steven Thompson · Jun 24

P.S. Basically any APRN that has diverted and is under monitoring agreement goes into the NPDB. That's a given and it's not nearly a big of a deal as you think or were likely led to believe in school. There are thousands of APRNs in the data bank that aren't even related to drugs. Same for surgeons who came out on the wrong end of a civil suit. The NPDB is nowhere close to as big of a deal and nurses make it out to be.

Here is a scenario about how easy it is to get into the NPDB. An ICU RN cares for a patient and the patient dies on a shift the RN was not working on, but the RN did care for that patient on 2 different shifts in the ICU. The physicians mismanaged that patients care and the patient dies. The family files suit against the hospital, every physician that cared for her as well as the RNs. The hospital settles the case and pays out instead of going to court. In this scenario, you could have 10 people end up in the NPDB and perhaps only 1 or 2 were actually at fault. This happens ALL of the time, and it's why the NPDB has become less serious and somewhat watered down or Basically, nowhere close to being viewed as serious by employers today as it was 15 or 20 years ago. The NPDB is NOT a show stopper, contrary to the typical nurse or APRN gossip and story telling you have heard in the breakrooms and work or why you were in school. Trust me on this, many of the hundreds of nurses and instructors and APRNs that "play up the NPDB fear" literally do not know what they are talking about.

It was estimated that as of 2022, 1 in 3 OB Gyn Surgeons who have practiced for over 7 years in the USA are in the NPDB and 1 in 2 neurosurgeons in the USA that have practiced for over 7 years are in the NPDB. Why? The sheer volume of legal suits in this area towards the surgeon are a given, regardless of whether the surgeon did wrong, and so many times that surgeons insurance company just settles the case and they pay out instead of fighting in court which lands the surgeon in the NPDB. Anesthesiologist and CRNAs also have high rates of NPDB entries. One chipped tooth while incubating can do it if the patient files suit and when you intubate thousands of human beings over 10 to 20 years, what are the odds 1 in 15000 or so get a chipped tooth and the patient files suit? Again, another reason why the NPDB is nowhere near as serious as you have been led to believe.

Steven Thompson · Jun 24

TIMFY said:

Was the opiate use while you were practicing as a CRNA or an RN? One of the CRNAs that works where I get my infusions is in monitoring and I believe he got that job after he started monitoring (ie it wasnt the job he was diverting from). He still gives prop/versed etc but way more lowkey than a surgery center or hospital so maybe check out offices and infusion centers? I don't believe they take Medicare so I think it would be OK with you being in the NPDB?

Being in the NPDB and whether a facility accepts/bills Medicare has a grand total of ZERO relation. Again that's nursing school myth and legend and gossip. Being in the NPDB absolutely does not make you ineligible for Medicare Billing/Reimbursement/Participation as a CRNA

Big Blondie, ASN, BSN, MSN, APRN · Jun 24

I am a NP and was not reported to the data bank. I was worried at the time, but it didn't happen. I know of a CRNA who eventually got a job at a GI surgery center.

Good luck.

crna05, CRNA · Jun 24

TIMFY said:

Was the opiate use while you were practicing as a CRNA or an RN? One of the CRNAs that works where I get my infusions is in monitoring and I believe he got that job after he started monitoring (ie it wasnt the job he was diverting from). He still gives prop/versed etc but way more lowkey than a surgery center or hospital so maybe check out offices and infusion centers? I don't believe they take Medicare so I think it would be OK with you being in the NPDB?

It was during my time as a CRNA. Thank you for the response. Every story heard about CRNAs returning to practice gives me hope.

crna05, CRNA · Jun 24

Steven Thompson said:

Apply for GI centers, eye centers, large metropolitan area hospitals that need help and you will be surprised at how many CRNAs and RNs and Physicians are in recovery at large hospitals. Getting your first job is tough, but it will happen. I am a recovery instructor, RN, and Psych NP and lead recovery online groups for nurses, physicians, and CRNAs, pharmacists, etc. I've worked with, know or have known approximately 100 plus CRNAs over the years who have diverted and come back into practice. For the ones that completed rehab and were in active 5 year monitoring programs and compliant, I NEVER met one who did not eventually find a job and return to practice as a CRNA. The overwhelming majority of them had a tough time getting that first job back and many of them...it took one year from the time they started applying to their first day on the job in the OR, but every one of them found one.

Do NOT waste your time applying with CRNA staffing groups/locums. A hospital will not credential you as a locum CRNA even though the locum group/CRNA staffers tell you you can work for them. The resistance comes as the hospitals they are trying to staff you/credential you at.

Apply for every GI Center in your state. Apply for hospitals in your state in which you directly work for the hospital. Be very open, up front and honest, and sooner or later someone doing the hiring and on the credentials committee will either be someone in recovery or have had a family member in recovery, etc. For all of those CRNAs who returned to practice and found that first job back/re entry....90 plus percent of them told me they didn't think they would find a job only for......them to find a job. Be prepared to be told No and be turned down. That's par for the course. Be prepared to move within your state. Think GI centers where you work directly for the GI Center, Surgical Centers where you are directly hired by the surgical center (no groups or anesthesia staffing agency) eye centers (direct hires) and hospitals that are very rural (in great need) or very large metro based hospitals (in need because it's considered an undesirable CRNA job)

Be prepared for it to take yp to 1 year from the time you put your first application in until the time you begin work. Think VOLUME of applications, not onesies or twosies, flood the market with a high volume of applications. You will find a job sooner or later and that's all it takes. One you have your foot in the door and are credentialed, you are set when your monitoring agreement ends. You will find that only a small handful of places will not hire you after your monitoring agreement is over and license is clear bases on your background that they will always know about. If only 1 in 8 hospitals will hire you now, after you have practiced somewhere eith that first job back and completed yourb5 year contract, 7 in 8 will hire you.

Very good information Steven! All I hear is how bad it is for someone to be submitted into the NPDB and that is why I came to this forum to find individuals either in my situation or know of others who are in my situation. I really need to see that this is hope in all this myself I ultimately put myself in. Thanks again!

crna05, CRNA · Jun 24

Big Blondie said:

I am a NP and was not reported to the data bank. I was worried at the time, but it didn't happen. I know of a CRNA who eventually got a job at a GI surgery center.

Good luck.

thanks for the info Big Blondie!

RDF-G, ASN · Jun 27

I'm so sorry for you! I feel that everyone deserves a second and I hope that you get one! If you live in a large city, most likely you will have to relocate to a small rural town to get a job. Build yourself up from there and then go back to a large city where you can make more money. Good luck to you and may God bless you!

crna05, CRNA · Jun 28

RDF-G said:

I'm so sorry for you! I feel that everyone deserves a second and I hope that you get one! If you live in a large city, most likely you will have to relocate to a small rural town to get a job. Build yourself up from there and then go back to a large city where you can make more money. Good luck to you and may God bless you!

Thanks you for the response!

crna05, CRNA · Jun 28

TIMFY said:

Was the opiate use while you were practicing as a CRNA or an RN? One of the CRNAs that works where I get my infusions is in monitoring and I believe he got that job after he started monitoring (ie it wasnt the job he was diverting from). He still gives prop/versed etc but way more lowkey than a surgery center or hospital so maybe check out offices and infusion centers? I don't believe they take Medicare so I think it would be OK with you being in the NPDB?

Just curious, does the place you receive infusions at happen to be in Kentucky? If so, could I get the name of it so I can put an app in?